never mind, they sponsored him. Prolly be what kills him too.
Bob Franke, owner of the Dairy Queen in Columbus for the past 40 years, watched the father mold the son into one of the best at precision high-speed flight around a race track. "Tony and Nelson and the whole family would come in every Saturday night after the go-kart races at the 4-H fairgrounds, and you could tell early on that Nelson was really pushing him. He wanted to see Tony do his best, and he wanted to see him win," Franke said. Franke started sponsoring Stewart's racing and had a good vantage point to watch his early success lead to more challenges and greater accomplishments. "In the early years, Nelson was pretty hard on Tony, but if you look at where Tony is today, that has probably grown out of that toughness." Stewart is still a regular customer at the Dairy Queen, where Franke has used an entire wall to chronicle Stewart's racing accomplishments. "I can't say enough about Tony and Nelson and that relationship that's always been there," Franke said. "They've had their spats along the way, like any dad and his son, but that is because they're so much alike. If Tony's got something on his mind, he'll just tell you, and Nelson's the exact same way."













